drunk driving crime. a california woman driving 2 miles with a dying man on her car. >> an ice storm moving to the south-east. an ice storm that could cripple an entire region in the country. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. we'll get to the stories in a moment. first, afghan president harz has been holding -- hamid karzai has been holding secret talks with the taliban in dubai. it is likely to strain tense relations with the u.s. i'll bring in jane ferguson, in kabul. what are we hearing from president hamid karzai's office. >> the palace here in kabul are not commenting on the reports of secret peace talks. it's worth mentioning the at all times have been going on, with the taliban, for years, and not just with the americans, with their nato allies and pak sustain. it won't be news to people in kabul to find their president has been trying to have uniry lateral talks. at this point in the war, 13 years on, any peace talks with the taliban are pursued from kab all, including with and without partners. it's not a big price to find attempts why not been successful. they have said again and again that they do not wish to talk with hamid karzai's government. they consider it to be a puppet government of the u.s. if they want to sit with bin for peace talks they want to talk to the memories. it's a reflection of the relationship between washington d.c., that the leaks are made. statements come out on a daily basis. continuous rows and leeks between the u.s. embassy and the presidential palace as relations deteriorated to the woipt where you see kuptions and counter accusations happening again and again. >> is hamid karzai facing pressure at home to negotiate with the taliban? >> he held the position that he wanted to negotiate. to sign a bilateral agreement with the u.s. that is a pact allowing the u.s. to keep forces here, dramatically smaller number of around 10,000, to stay on after their mandate to be in the country runs out at the end of this year, they'd stay to train and mentor locality forces and conduct counterterrorism raids. he has refused to sign, and the americans are keeping up the pressure, he has pressure on the ground to sign that before handing over power to his successor in april. >> an ongoing situation. jane ferguson in kabul. thank you. >> days before the start of the winter olympics in russia, there are major concerns as teams make their way to sochi. austria's team said it received a threat saying two of their athletes would be kidnapped. several letters turned out to be a hoax. videos were respected showing gays badly beaten. the images were collected by human rights groups. some of the images are graphic. >> the videos are hard to look at, pulled together by human rights watch, shows gays in russia beaten and abused. they were posted by a vigilante group calling itself occupied ped fillia. it lures gay men. they are belittled, intimidated and beaten up. the group shoots video of the whole thing. they are not easy to watch. it's in russian, but you can read the subtitles. >> there are no hard numbers, human rights watches say these attacks increased banning prappa ganneda of nontraditional relationships among minors. russian officials denies that discrimination against homeo sexuals take policlagues. i spoke to an activist. >> violence against l.g.d.t. people is normal, tolerated and accepted by the government. you may be surprised that eight states in the u.s. have rules similar to russia's ban on gay propaganda. they are called no promo homeo laws. they prohibited teachers talking about homosexuality in a positive light. in a few cases, talking about it at all. >> russian president vladimir putin said gay people should feel comfortable in sochi, but ask they leave children in peace. >> jamaica's anti-doping commission says it will drug test athletes. it plans to run as many as 300 tests. six jamaicans failed the test. a dozen were carried out in november and december. several athletes threatened to strike, calling the accusations of the don'ting untrue. >> there are concerns about the readiness of the summer's world cup in brazil. in the last 24 hours, there has been widespread power outages impacting 6 million people. the country has been criticised over the power cid. energy officials say heat is blamed for the outages, but insists the country will be ready when the world cup takes place in june. no mother nature is not letting up. it's one snow storm after another, causing havoc all the way to massachusetts. the storm shut down cities and schools and continues to be a burden on the travel industry. look at this. this south-west airlines jet got stuck in a snow drift on tuesday. after another round of snow, the region is in for another snow storm. you are looking at colombus circle. this is near central park. there's about six inches of snow and another round is underway. meteorologist or kevin corriveau has the details. >> a lot of people are getting snow of this winter. this is the latest dumping of snow. we are seeing a lot of weather, anywhere from nebraska to now parts of new york as well as pennsylvania. first of all, let's finish off the storm as it makes its way to the mid west. still a big problem. snow across the ohio valley. freezing precipitation around kentucky. across the north-west it has begun. there's a few showers making their way in. we'll see it across most of the metro areas along the coastal renalingans. fires snow and -- regions, first snow, precip saying making the commute tricky along the i-95 corridor. there's a few snow showers. temperatures have low for this time of year. we are talking about seattle, a high of 32 degrees. we are not going to get better than that over the next couple of days with snow and rain by the time we get to the wnd. >> towards the south-west in california there's a change in the forecast. the drought situation has been bad. the rig of high pressure is breaking down. we think we'll see rain and showers particularly to the north. it wl remain dry. los angeles at 65. really staying that way over the next couple of days, warming up as we get towards sunday. then over towards texas clearing out. >> thank you. four people have been arrested on drugs charges and are being questioned in connection with the death of philip seymour hoffman. >> they may have supplied the hollywood actor with heroin. he was found dead of an apparent drug overdose. autopsy results are expected next week. broadway theatres will honour the oscar winning wednesday evening. >> a hit and run case in california. a woman has been convicted of murder after striking a man and continuing to drive two miles with him on the hood of her car. sharon's blood alcohol level was double the legal limit. she faces life in prison because she is has previous felony conditions. >> still ahead - a new report painting an ugly picture of the affordable care act. why president obama may encourage people not to work. >> people that control the american nuclear arsenal - what they are accused of doing. >> attempts to topple the prime minister in thailand turning to violent protests to hate speech. sexist rhetoric used against the nations embattled leader. >> a report from the congressional budget offers claims by 2014 workforce participation by the equivalent of 2 million jobs. the new law could lead workers to limit hours to avoid losing subsidies. house republicans say the estimate confirms the affordable care act is bad for the any. the white house describes the cuts as voluntary steps tape by workers. >> several bramps of the u.s. military are embroid in cheating scandals. the army is accused of scamming a program. and the navy - cheating at exams at a nuclear reactor. >> discouraging and disappointing, possibly illegal from the start. that's how the scandal surviving the army national guard was described. for the pentagon, it's one of a barrel-load of trouble that it has to sort out. >> the senate was investigating an 18-year long scandal costing taxpayers millions. >> a case a fraud would have been too many. we know that thousands of service members, families and friend may have participated in schemes to defraud the government they served, and the taxpayers. >> 1200 individuals, including 200 officers and two 2-star generals are implicated, centring around a government program that paid cash for recruitment. the recruiting program had gotten out of hand. its intent was to offer financial incentives for troops in iraq and afghanistan. >> it was what can we avoid to do to avoid a draft. because of all that was happening, and all of other traditional methods that had worked for 20 years. >> weren't working. >> the navy's investigating a cheating scandal on written tests relating to training on navy nuclear power reactors. >> this is a serious incident. integrity is the basis of our business. training and n.c.i.s. had a full investigation. >> missile launch officers hit 92 out af staff of 500 embroiled in the matter. they are accused of sharing the answers to text messages and knowing about it and failing to report it. u.s. assistant secretary of defense said the pentagon has to crackdown on this behaviour. >> the military has been put on a pedestal and held in high regard that they are not as careful as they used to be in terms of the things they do. they said, "well, we are better than everyone else so we can push the envelope here or there. >> three branches, three scandal gs. the scandals involving the national guard, an example of how a man was talked about. he bought the names, addresses and numbers and gave them back to the guard as referrals, claiming $250,000 for his trouble. >> john terrett with the story from washington. >> the senate approved a farm bill. it allots $950 million over five years. it comes with a cost. the bill includes $8 billion in cuts to food stamps, a lose of $90 a month. the president and expected to sign the bill on friday. many americans rely on food stamps and are upset about the cost. one of those says the program is not a hand out as some see it, but a necessity to feed her family and spoke to al jazeera's john seigenthaler. >> there has been a time or two they have been made to feel uncomfortable, accepting food stamps. my daughter is on neddy cade. you have people that may judge that as far as accepting the hand out like you call it. if you were walk engine my shoes and -- walking in my shoes and putting every effort in, if that's what it takes to help my child, i'll accept the help where i can get it. >> for many families, losing $90 could mean feeding children junk food instead of healthy items. anti-government sentiment has been running high in thailand. protesters have been calling for the prime minister to step down. as al jazeera's veronica pedrosa reports, many are noticing something else. sexist remarks aimed at the leader p >> an attractive woman in a role normally played by men. she's at the center of a bitter fight to control the country. mass protests against bangkok tried to obstruct elections. as you can see, the crowds are nowhere near as big as they were. that doesn't mean the language and vitriol pored out at stages like this is getting weaker. in fact, women's right complained about the sexist language used against the prime minister. >> here, referring to a tv game show, the opposition said if there was a competition tore dumb lady, no one could complete. abusive and sexist language must by opponents. don't worry, you have time. you're not too old to be a pin up model, you have not reached menopause. >> some dislike the hate speech. >> translation: >> as a woman, it's harsh. it's the last straw to say such things. >> not just the last straw, but an omen of things to cox. >> we are seeing protesters calling enemies in the government as nonhuman. therefore they don't deserve to live any more. it's a dangerous indicator of an ongoing confrontation, including violent confrontation. the more inflammatory the verbal abuse, the more likely there'll be violence. >> protesters say the counter head of state is controlled by her brother, the former prime minister living in exile. >> she could be the next big thing in women's basketball. she's only nine. how the young prodigy is making a major impact on the court. >> they want to understand ultimately what human being always wanted to understand - which is the truth. >> a fierce debate on a contentious topic. evolution versus creation. two experts face off on fact versus fiction. >> and a depace in the missouri capital over the high five. >> welcome back, you may not know the name jadan newman, but she is making headlines for her skills on the basketball court. we are introduced to the young hoops prodigy. she is playing high school ball even though she's in high school. >> most athletes have to wait until high school to make the varsity team. >> she has been running the point for the girls basketball team for two seasons. >> it's fun. the people i play against they think i'm not good. they see differently on the court. >> what's it like on the happened shake line? >> they are like, "wow, good job, i don't know you played like that." >> no one gets mad at you. >> well, sometimes. >> the 4 foot 7 prodigy averages 15 goals. her father jamie, her coach, said she was born to play. >> she's daddy's little girl. she wants to do whatever daddy loves, whatever daddy likes, she likes to watch. whatever i do she's with me 24 slab 7. being on the couch, watching the game when she was not walking to where she is today. she'll be by my side and tell the coaches what to do and the players. she knows the game. shooting long range 3, handlings the game well. >> it's deceiving because she is a cute young innocent face, and then she's like the silent assassin on the court. >> that's how she is. she's cute. "she's so cute", and she goes by "wait a minute." you play tough and she still goes by you. it's funny. she's so cute. she plays. >> the nooumans are used to the spotlight after her brother julien started for the boys team as a sixth grader and mum vivian was a store point guarder and is supermum, working her job and juggling everyone's busy basketball schedules. >> jadan focuses on high school basketball, she dreams about the next level. >> i want to go to college and play. i want to go to the wmba and play for the l.a. sparks. >> who is your favourite player. >> have you gotten to meet her? >> no. >> when i was on the queen latiffa show she signed her jersey and gave it to me. >> have you practised your autograph. >> people asked me. i make up one. >> at the rate she's going, there'll be a lot more of this in jadan newman's future. >> she has a bright future. >> a stunning photo of saturn. look at the hexagon-shaped storm. it may look small, but it's about 20,000 miles across. twice as big as earth. it raises the question was the universe created or was it evolved. two experts took that public. we travel to kentucky to hear what they had to say. >> is creation a model in this scientific era. that brought a crowd to see bill ni face off against tim han. from the creation museum. >> what makes the united states a world leader is our technology. our new ideas, innoiation. >> the battle is about authority. more than signs or evolution, it's about who is the authority, man or god. >> the debate came about because of a video blog in 2012, in which they said teaching creationism, the belief that humans existed was harmful to children. it racked up 6 million views, prompting kim han to challenge bill ni. he used and countered the creationist vup. >> there's a famous tree, 9,550 years old. how could the trees be there if there was a flood 4,000 years ago. >> han stuck to a distinction between different science. >> you can't observe the ag of the earth. you can't see it. there's a big difference between historical science, talking about the past and observational science, talking about the presence. if we eschew science and the process and divide science into observational science and historic science, we are not going to move forward, we will not emblaze natural laws or make discovery. >> evolution is obvious whelmingly accepted. the same level of certainty does not exist for the american public. a pew research center poll shows 60% of americans believe in evolution. it found white evangelical conservatives are likely to support the belief. >> coming together to rechon style is encouraging and will compel people to explore science and what they believe in and why we are here on earth. >> both doesn't expect to change the others view but thought the discussion was important. >> forget about shaking hands. some folks in missouri would like to high five. >> they say it would promote a friendlier environment. the bill is being considered in the house. we'll let you know who passes. >> that will do for this edition of al jazeera news. >> i'm lisa fletcher, and you are in the stream. comic books, we have read one, may have a favourite one. do they have the power to flooups -- influence society. you may be surprised. our digital producer, rajahad ali is here, giving us all of your feedback, and raj, you